If Human Brain Organoids Are the Answer to Understanding Dementia, What Are the Questions?

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Author
Ooi, L; Dottori, M; Cook, AL; Engel, M; Gautam, V; Grubman, A; Hernandez, D; King, AE; Maksour, S; Anastacio, HTD; ...Date
2020-10Source Title
The Neuroscientist: reviews at the interface of basic and clinical neurosciencesPublisher
Sage PublicationsUniversity of Melbourne Author/s
Pebay, Alice; Williamson, Robert; Dottori, Mirella; White, Anthony; Gautam, Vini; Hernandez De Santiago, HectorAffiliation
Biomedical EngineeringSurgery (RMH)
Paediatrics (RCH)
Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Anatomy and Neuroscience
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Journal ArticleCitations
Ooi, L., Dottori, M., Cook, A. L., Engel, M., Gautam, V., Grubman, A., Hernandez, D., King, A. E., Maksour, S., Anastacio, H. T. D., Balez, R., Pebay, A., Pouton, C., Valenzuela, M., White, A. & Williamson, R. (2020). If Human Brain Organoids Are the Answer to Understanding Dementia, What Are the Questions?. The Neuroscientist, 26 (5-6), pp.438-454. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073858420912404.Access Status
Open AccessAbstract
Because our beliefs regarding our individuality, autonomy, and personhood are intimately bound up with our brains, there is a public fascination with cerebral organoids, the “mini-brain,” the “brain in a dish”. At the same time, the ethical issues around organoids are only now being explored. What are the prospects of using human cerebral organoids to better understand, treat, or prevent dementia? Will human organoids represent an improvement on the current, less-than-satisfactory, animal models? When considering these questions, two major issues arise. One is the general challenge associated with using any stem cell–generated preparation for in vitro modelling (challenges amplified when using organoids compared with simpler cell culture systems). The other relates to complexities associated with defining and understanding what we mean by the term “dementia.” We discuss 10 puzzles, issues, and stumbling blocks to watch for in the quest to model “dementia in a dish.”
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